Just about a year ago, we moved into an old turn-of-the-(20th)-century home that needed (and still needs) a lot of work. We’ve been making slow progress, and with the exception of some initial and very necessary construction to remodel the very rundown kitchen and a few other improvements, doing most of the work ourselves. But one of the things we began work on almost as soon as we moved in was the gardens. Here are just some of the early Spring flowers (photos shot May 5, 2013)

And Cash

And Penny

CNN, once the definition of broadcast news quality, has become irrelevant. If you didn’t already think so, the network did a bang-up job proving it this week with its coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings, which at times matched the standard of reporting of that bastion of yellow journalism, The New York Post.

I’ll let Jon Stewart explain CNN’s latest gaffe: 

And this is just the latest example. CNN’s news fails are a staple of Stewart’s material. Here’s another clip for your viewing enjoyment:

CNN pioneered the 24-hour news cycle. Its tenacious, determined coverage of the 1989 Tienanmen Square occupation and military crackdown was a seminal moment for the young network and literally redefined the news. I was in Hong Kong at the time, and remember being glued to the television watching the CNN reports from Beijing. CNN literally had the story before anyone else — even the US government.

How did this once shining star become the punchline?

It is tempting to blame social media and the rise of the “citizen journalist,” and there is some truth to the assertion. All CNN’s vaunted “boots on the ground” aren’t worth nearly as much as they used to be, when anyone with a smartphone can be a reporter.  You don’t have to look much further than the 2011 Egyptian uprisings to understand just how powerful first-person reporting has become.

But untrained “citizen reporters” gathering their news from police scanners and eyewitness accounts get it wrong just as often as they get it right. Terribly wrong, as was shown this week by the Reddit community’s erroneous identification of someone as a suspect in the Boston bombings.

CNN hasn’t become irrelevant because we have become reporters. CNN is increasingly irrelevant because it has stopped practicing responsible journalism. In the rush to be first, it seems to have forgotten how important it is to be correct (h/t a Facebook friend whose name I don’t recall for this turn of phrase). Its reporting isn’t that much better than that of the man or woman on the street. And that’s a shame.

I expect Fox to get it wrong more than it gets it right because of the inherent political bias of the network. There’s a reason why we call it the Faux News network…

But I used to want more, expect more from CNN. I don’t anymore. It’s not quite Bullshit Mountain (Jon Stewart’s favorite name for Fox) but it’s not the news I need.

I want the news outlets I follow to be responsible journalists. To accurately report the news — the narrative of what has happened — and to provide the objective analysis and context for the news. So, I didn’t watch CNN on Friday as I followed the events in Boston. 

I wanted careful, objective reporting without invective, speculation or rumor-mongering.  I turned to local Boston TV and radio, periodically checking in on WCVB-TV’s live feed on the Internet, and listening to WBUR, Boston’s NPR affiliate. And when my friends on Facebook and Twitter complained about CNN, I advised them to step away from the TV and “go local” with me.

I’m actually quite sad that CNN — the news network that for years fed my news addiction — has become so irrelevant, and wish I could say that it will learn from the debacle of its Boston coverage. But I am not hopeful, if reports of CNN president Jeff Zucker’s congratulatory memo to staff are accurate.

With multiple sources reporting, I’m guessing they are.

I’ve lived in New England most of my life, and until three years ago, in a small Massachusetts town not far from the Boston Marathon starting line in Hopkinton. It’s impossible to live in Massachusetts, and especially in MetroWest and not know a few runners, both official and unofficial.

Now that we live in Connecticut, we are a little more removed from Marathon madness. Still, around 2:30 yesterday, I thought about going online to see who had won, but got wrapped up in something else. An hour later, my route to a meeting took me past the TV monitor in the lobby.

Stunned. Sad. Sorrow. For the victims. For Boston. For the Marathon tradition.

And selfishly relieved that my son wasn’t with his father in Massachusetts for spring break.

Rationally, I know there was no chance they would have been near the finish line. Even though my ex often goes to watch the Marathon, he goes to Hopkinton or Framingham.

But I can’t help but be grateful that I was spared even a moment of wondering.

And so sad and so sorry for all those affected – in any way, no matter how small it may seem. Sorrow has no rules. We only own our personal response. Not someone else’s.

So be kind today. To others, but also to yourself.

XOXO

Perhaps it’s true that it isn’t the duration of life, it’s the fullness. If that’s true, my dear sweet Reva wasn’t robbed, although it still feels that way every day. So I beg your indulgence while I share a few more memories.

Now that I have read Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, I can simply say that I was disappointed. As I wrote earlier this year, I  had fairly low expectations of the book. I suppose if I measure my sentiment after reading to what I expected prior, my expectations were met. But not for the reasons I initially expected.

Here’s my bottom line:

While I found myself agreeing with many key points, and identified with some examples, her thesis still comes down to the idea that it is incumbent on women to make changes in their behavior to unlock the executive suite. While I don’t disagree that we are all personally responsible for our own success, I do believe there are institutional barriers for women that men do not face. As long as we keep putting the onus  on the individual, we won’t address these barriers. We won’t make REAL progress.

What are these institutional barriers? Everything from modern business only gives lip service to the family, and still tends to evaluate female employees in the context of potential parent, to traditional “masculine” values and management styles are more highly prized than the feminine.

I was disappointed because numerous times in the book, Sandberg seemed to almost get there — to ascribe some responsibility to the infrastructure, but then she pulled back to the personal responsibility.

Ultimately though, the larger disappointment was that the book ended up being a $15 commercial for her Lean In Circles.

I read it on my Kindle, and at about 66%, I had to put it down for a few days, figuring to save the last third for a time when I could sit and read it through. Imagine my disappointment when I went back to it, to read about three additional pages, and a plug for the Lean In Circles, followed by the longest acknowledgement section I have ever read.

So, I didn’t hate the book, but I kinda want my $15 and the couple hours I spent reading it back. I felt conned.

Speaking of the con, my latest guilty pleasure is the UK drama Hustle. It ran for eight 6-episode seasons, ending in 2012, but we just discovered it this year. The protagonists are con artists, and not in the  Robin Hood “give to the poor” genre that the US flavor of this concept has (Leverage.) In Hustle, while the marks are clearly bad greedy fools who deserve to lose their money, our heroes definitely keep the money for themselves.

And you root for them, every time.

The actors are all excellent, but I do have to single out Robert Glenister as Ash Morgan and Adrian Lester as “Mickey Bricks.” Lester was not in season 4 which was by far the weakest. It was also great to see Robert Vaughn — in his 70s — having such fun with a role.

Seasons 1-4 are available on DVD in the US, but you can find the others on the BBC’s YouTube channel. Here’s episode 1, season 1: The Con Is On.

Trust me. The mark gets ripped off in Hustle, but you don’t!